Human Development
The study of human development from conception to death is referred to as developmental psychology. The focus is on the human development stages which are important and relevant to developmental psychology. Human development is a complex process involving various stages and influenced by different factors. It is therefore subject to divergent positions of interpretations and even misinterpretation as various people carry studies on the subject matter. In fact, the subject has already attracted differing opinions from various analytics in this field.
Historical view and study of psychology in general has received challenges as there has occurred paradigmatic shifts in the study and conceptualization of the subjects. Behavioral models of psychology were used to explain development, but the stage has taken a multiparadigmatic direction (Linda, 1998). Generally, there have been two divergent views on developmental psychology that have had been debated so far, namely, cognitive and behavioral models. Socio-cognitive and cognitive-behavioral theories have evolved to explain human psychology. Theories of normative development of human have been challenged by the intrusion of cross-culture research into psychology and rethinking of the concepts of development has been necessitated by the emergence of adult and ageing.
The subjects have drawn differing views on various stages of development. Various theoretical positions have been posited by various psychologists, and they have helped understand the subject more in relation to the various stages involved and the factors affecting development. Combination of these divergent views may however be viewed as a means to expand the understanding of the subject matter, and therefore helpful. The problem with different theoretical positions is the differing opinions (Louw et al., 1998: 3). The insight provided by Jung, Freud, Adler and James reveal that consciousness can be explained (Coy, 2009).
The importance of theoretical positions cannot be undermined in the understanding of various aspects of life and factors influencing them. In developmental psychology, theoretical positions held by different psychologists shed light into different schools of thoughts by those individuals but help the learners to understand in a broad sense, how human psychology functions, sources of psychological functioning, and the various models used in studying the subject. In particular, two models have evolved in studying the functioning of consciousness in human beings, namely, functionalistic and structuralism perspective. James has employed a functionalistic view of the consciousness unlike Freud, Alder and Jung. Such a divergence may help people to understand the subject matter more broadly and judge the concepts on a wide range of issues.
Human behavior is shaped by the moral rules in the personality (psyche) and drives (urges) according to Freud’s theory of personality.
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